Model-making is all well and good, but there's no substitute for hands-on experience. These five architecture programs empowered students to design and build functional structures in their communities. What they came up with bodes well for the next generation of architecture.

Architect Gavin Macrae-Gibson has designed dozens of educational spaces in New York City, from a renovation of the New York Public Library's Astor Hall entrance to PS 313, a new school in Sunnyside, Queens. Macrae-Gibson joined us at Dwell on Design NY to discuss what it means to create a “modern” school in New York. Here, we take a look at a few of his recent projects that have helped shape the city's academic landscape.

A design competition drew submissions for a new teaching facility, dubbed the ONE Lab, at the Brooklyn Navy Yard's renovated Building 128. The building is among a series of structures dedicated to innovation; the site also contains the New Lab, a 161,000 square foot hub for design prototyping. Here, take a look at the winning concepts.

A panel at Dwell on Design NY will explore how tech-forward teaching and learning is changing how we conceptualize academic spaces. Joining the discussion is Colin Koop from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, who led the construction of The New School's University Center. Click through the slideshow to see the building, along with other educational spaces that Koop has helped transform.